Foreign Aid and National Security

Bono said that aid “is national security.” Retired military leaders have also made the case for greater investment in civilian tools, like foreign assistance. Defense and military efforts are vital to our national security goals, but cannot fully address the multifaceted challenges we face today.

Foreign assistance is critical to achieving our national security objectives, laying the groundwork for developing countries today to become bigger partners tomorrow.

The price tag on this invaluable element of our national power rings in at less than 1 percent of the total federal budget. For fiscal year 2017, the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development foreign assistance request totals $34 billion.

That sliver of the budget pie bolsters our national security by supporting activities that counter Daesh (the Islamic State) and violent extremism, mitigate crises in Syria and Iraq, address the underlying factors of migration from Central America and more.

Our foreign assistance dollars are working overtime to bolster our national security, and needs show no signs of abating. Our budget request is critical to ensuring our responsiveness to these complex crises and American leadership in this global landscape.